Hey guys,
Thought I'd post the results of my latest project. All I've done in the years I've had this truck has been performance / tow stuff, thought it would be nice to do something more in the looks dept. My truck is a 2WD 5er hauler so not interested in big tires and a lift, but an 05 grill and headlights looked like a good upgrade.
Here's a pic of the truck in it's old look:


First of all I've got to say thank you to SteveKran for this great write up on modifying the grille:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...a-99-04-a.html

And to Jason Ray for his great Super Duty articles which gave me great direction on the fog light wiring and switches:
2004 F250 Super Duty 4x4

Let's start with the headlights. I bought an upgrade kit from headlightsdepot.com that came with 05 headlights and a wiring harness to plug into my 2000 truck:
SUPER DUTY 05-07 CHROME SET WITH PNP CONVERSION HARNESS at HeadlightsDepot.com | Top Quality Headlights at Affordable Prices

The instructions that came with these were rather simple, but I could have used more detail on how to cut the header panel. So here's a pic on what I did - with the piece that I cut out still there so you can see the outline:


And here's the result of the cutout:


Lastly I needed some hardware from Lowe's to attach the lights. I bought 1/4-20 speednuts and bolts and washers to match to attach at the top. Note here that I also had to trim some of the header panel horizontal section near the grill (lower right in this photo):


Before I forget to mention later, I did need to re-aim these lights. I found a spec elsewhere that you should aim at a wall 25ft from the front of the truck (assuming level) and align for a 4" drop. Forgot to do this and the first evening out I was pointed way too low!

On to the grille. I bought one from Rock Auto, a 2005 grille for about $65. Crazy fast shipping! The box was beat up quite a bit but the grille was packed well and initial quality looks good. We'll see how it holds up.

I basically followed the write-up link above to cut the bottom of the grille. I alternated between my small angle grinder and my dremel. I ended up using the angle grinder the most on the rear, black support structure to get it out of the way, and the dremel on the chrome sections. The write-up was good and after cutting to the initial measurements I just had to do a few trims here and there.

When I was done I didn't like how flimsy the chrome was so I did my best to attach it to the black support behind. Thank you to the guys who commented in the write-up for the ideas on doing this.

After trimming the chrome back there's still a bit left of the "tabs" that were there holding it to the black. In two places I drilled a small hole for a small screw to hold it on:


I also used some JB weld (all I had around) to try and stick it together as well.

Lastly I also didn't want to tie wrap the grille on the bottom, so stealing from another idea I used some leftover black plastic that I had trimmed off and attached it to the bottom of the black support structure. Then slipped on of the metal clips that came with the new grille, and it worked like a charm to clip the grille into the existing holes in my 2000 header panel.

Here's a pic of the bottom of the grille. Screw at left, some JB in the middle and the new clip on the right:


Another view of the clip with the grille installed. You can see the screw head which holds the plastic in, to which the clip is attached:


Yeah I know what you're thinking now, I should have just bought a new header panel. You're probably right. I started into this thing just wanting to do the headlights and didn't like those without the grille so went further and then of course realized what I should have done!

Now the fog install. I bought Hella 2020s for the front and also Hella 1200 to mount on the rear for backup lights and use in campgrounds, etc (thank you Jason for the idea).

The fog install was easy using the directions, just had to remember about wiring etc. I mounted the fronts "inside" the bumper where stock fogs would have been. Couldn't use stock fogs b/c of the front hitch. Also I didn't like the switches that came with the fogs (two different designs and didn't go with the truck). Thankfully Jason had done the homework for me and I ordered some much better "upfitter" looking switches and installed them on the dash:


Also replaced all the external lights with LED bulbs from superbrightleds.com. Here's the front turn signals:


Alright now time for la piece de resistance.... (money shots). Rear fogs installed. I might re-position these, I've already busted the lens on the left one!


And pics of the front all done:




Man that was a lot of work! I'm taking a break and then in a few weeks adding clear lens LED cab lights and seriously thinking about a retro HID kit. But for now I'm going to chill a bit.... hope this helps someone and thanks for reading!

 

Great job. I have been planning this exact thing on mine for a while. Love the 2005 grill, but I went with another one for now.

So you feel like those headlights are worth the price for the quality?

I have rear fogs in the same location as yours. Mine are wired into the backup lights using a relay. Pick up a few extras, you will break them off from time to time. I found some much smaller ones to use and haven't had as much of a problem lately though.

 

Thank you Scott, you're right I should have bought some more rear fogs. Thankfully these were cheap (purposefully) so I'm going to buy some more. I cracked that one backing into something....

Right now I think the headlights are worth it. They look so much better and the light pattern is better than what I had. But I'm spoiled with the projector HIDs on my car so that's why I'm thinking the retro kit to get even better. Also the plastic they're made out of seemed more "flexible" than the stock lights, but maybe that's because the stockers were hardened from age. The new ones didn't seem nearly as brittle so hopefully that is good.

I did think about wiring the rear fog relay into my backup circuit. However I thought I'd rather them be separate, since I do find myself wanting more light behind the truck in more situations than just backing up (setting up camp, etc). I did wire it so that I had to have the parking lights on to work the rear fogs. It's an easy switch to throw and with a 2yo who likes to play in the truck I don't need to have him leave me a present of run down batteries

 

The truck looks great!